The Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) is a group of lawyers who expressed disapproval on Duterte's plans to revive the death penalty on the country. And also the so-called "shoot-to-kill" orders for all authorities against organized criminals or those who violently resist arrest.

FLAG statement released on May 20, chair Jose Manuel Diokno said, "illegal and unconstitutional" on Duterte's proposals, and it will "render our legal system impotent and meaningless" and that would "blatantly violate international law."

According to thew news, the capital punishment in the country was abolished in 1986 when President Corazon Aquino took over the reins of power from Ferdinand Marcos.

But it was went back on the time of the President Fidel V. Ramos in 1993, then suspended again in 2006.

The group of lawyers explained that the vulnerable to the death penalty and a "shoot-to-kill" policy are those 'poor people' in the country. Since they lack the resources to hire good lawyers.

The FLAG cited the Supreme Court which revealed in the landmark People vs Mateo case in 2004 that 71% of death sentences handed down by trial courts "were wrongfully imposed" – meaning, 7 out of 10 convicts on death row "did not deserve to be there."

They said, "If these numbers are any indication, it is those who live in poverty who will suffer the most if the death penalty is restored,"

"Advocating state-sanctioned killings is not just anti-poor but anti-life," they said, adding that the country needs a better justice system, not death penalty nor a "shoot-to-kill" policy which "will not deter crime." FLAG said in its statement.